Friday, December 27, 2013

Jill Blake is the owner/managing editor of the classic film website Sittin’ on a Backyard Fence.
She is also the co-host of the annual Summer Under the Stars Blogathon.
In 2012, she was interviewed on-air by Turner Classic Movies host Ben
Mankiewicz, and a featured guest on the TCM podcast in 2013. In her
spare time, Jill is a stay-at-home mom, wife, fried okra connoisseur,
and the neighborhood’s own L.B. Jeffries. Follow Jill on Twitter at @biscuitkitten.--------------------- Unfortunately, 2013 has been a year of not many new-to-me movies. Thus is the life of a toddler wrangler. However, I ﬁnally managed to watch some ﬁlms that, for one reason or another, had remained elusive to me. I’ve selected six ﬁlms, two of which I saw for the ﬁrst time in truly grand style at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood. Although most of these ﬁlms have been known to the entire world for decades, they only became known to me these last few months. Some of the ﬁlms I’ve selected would generally be considered major classics, and I would say I’m ashamed to have only seen them this year, but I’m not. They are my greatest discoveries of 2013.

To Be or Not to Be (1942)d. Ernst LubitschStarring Carole Lombard and Jack BennyI’ll be honest: Prior to 2013, I had seen bits and pieces of Lubitsch’s wartime dark comedy, but never enough to really know exactly what was going on. I’ll admit I’ve largely avoided this ﬁlm over the years because...well, I don’t know exactly why I avoided it. All that matters is, thanks to a beautiful transfer from Criterion, I ﬁnally sat down and watched Lubitsch’s masterpiece (yes, I said masterpiece). It is, by far, one of the edgiest and funniest comedies ever made. It’s an absolute treasure even if the topic is a hard sale to friends and coworkers (“it’s a comedy about Nazi occupied Poland”).

3:10 to Yuma (1957)d. Delmer DavesStarring Glenn Ford and Van HeﬂinI’m not typically a fan of Westerns (or of Glenn Ford), but I had heard great things about 3:10 to Yuma and its atypical style for the genre. Once again, Criterion released the ﬁlm on Blu-ray (it is deﬁnitely one of the greatest releases of the year), and it piqued my interest. I thought I would never say this, but Ford’s performance is outstanding, as is Heﬂin’s (of course I always think Heﬂin is great). Yuma is quickly becoming one of my all-time favorites.

The General (1926)d. Clyde Bruckman, Buster KeatonStarring: Buster Keaton and Marion MackAlright. This is a big one. I’ll admit that I haven’t watched many silent ﬁlms. I would deﬁnitely label myself a novice, but I have seen quite a bit of Buster Keaton’s ﬁlms. I was taking a ﬁlm class in college and was ﬁrst introduced to Keaton’s work through Our Hospitality (1923). I fell in love. Over the years I saw more, but whenever The General was on, I turned the television off. For some reason it didn’t feel right to watch it for the ﬁrst time that way. I had an opportunity to see The General at The Fox Theatre here in Atlanta back in 2010. Ben Mankiewicz from TCM was there to introduce and there was live organ accompaniment. At the time I was about 8 months pregnant and sitting through a movie without making 15 trips to the bathroom was an impossibility. This year at the TCM Classic Film Festival, the closing night ﬁlm was Keaton’s The General with live accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra. This was the very last screening in TCL Chinese Theatre (Grauman’s!) before the conversion to a stadium-style IMAX arrangement (although the upgrade was true to the original elements of the theatre). I waited in line with friends for two hours to get a seat in the capacity screening. Robert Osborne introduced the ﬁlm which also featured the Keaton short One Week. To say it was one of the greatest theatre-going experiences of my life would be an understatement. It goes without saying that The General is a favorite. I am so glad I waited to see it.

Journey to Italy (1954)d. Roberto RosselliniStarring: Ingrid Bergman and George SandersThis is another ﬁlm I saw for the ﬁrst time at the TCM Classic Film Festival. I hadn’t originally planned on attending the screening for it. In all honesty, I knew very little about this ﬁlm; who was in it or what it was about. When I discovered that two of my favorite actors, Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders co-starred, I had to check it out. Bergman and Sanders starred together in one of Bergman’s ﬁrst American ﬁlms, and one of my favorites, Rage in Heaven (1941). Although the two seem like an odd pairing, their romance in Heaven is believable. In Rossellini’s Journey to Italy, Bergman and Sanders are married and their relationship is falling apart. It’s beautiful, real, and devastating. I had an emotional experience watching this ﬁlm that I will never forget. Like To Be or Not to Be and 3:10 to Yuma, Journey to Italy has been released by Criterion as part of the 3 Films by Roberto Rossellini Starring Ingrid Bergman set.

The Macomber Affair (1947)d. Zoltan KordaStarring Gregory Peck and Joan BennettI was introduced to The Macomber Affair by Theresa Brown (who wrote a wonderful guest post on the ﬁlm on my site for the Summer Under the Stars Blogathon). I am a huge Gregory Peck fan and this was one of a few of his ﬁlms I hadn’t seen yet. To my knowledge it isn’t available on video and the print shown on TCM wasn’t the greatest quality. However, the print quality didn’t matter. I was completely transﬁxed by this ﬁlm. It’s full of passion, sexual tension, big game hunting (it is a Hemingway story) and masculinity. I must see it again, and a better copy at that. Here’s hoping someone like Warner Archive can obtain and release it.

The Great Sinner (1949)d. Robert SiodmakStarring Gregory Peck and Ava GardnerGregory Peck and Ava Garner made three ﬁlms together: The Snows of Kilimanjaro 1952), On the Beach (1959), and The Great Sinner (1949) which was their ﬁrst pairing. The two were great friends, and that is always evident in their performances together. I found The Great Sinner through Warner Archive and was sold not only based on the two leads Peck and Gardner, but the stellar supporting cast: Melvyn Douglas, Walter Huston, Ethel Barrymore, Frank Morgan, and Agnes Moorehead. This ﬁlm is incredibly dark, especially for MGM, and I found myself watching it two nights in a row to take it all in.

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This site is all about keeping older films in the public consciousness via lists and short reviews. I am the maker of lists and the curator of countless others from a great group of regular contributors. Check back regularly!
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